H

HMS Hindostan - Frigate [Fourth Rate, 52 Gun], later converted to Storeship (Royal Navy).
Teak built, two-decker. Built by Hudson, Bacon & Co. at Calcutta in 1798; launched as East Indiaman Admiral Rainier.
Dimensions: length, 158 ft 6"; breadth, 37 ft: 511 tons [later listed as 887 tons]. Armaments: 52 guns: 26 x 18 Pounders; 26 x 24 Pounder Carronades (22 guns as a Storeship, with 20 x 24 Pounder Carronades, + 2 x 9 Pounders). Crew: 294 (141 as a Storeship).
Made one round trip to England from India in 1799-1800; arrived in England again in September 1803 from Bengal and was purchased from the East India Company by the Admiralty in May 1804.
Returned to East Indies in February/March 1805; in action (with Tremendous) against the French La Canonniere on 21 April 1806; recommissoned in December 1806; repaired at Woolwich in January 1807 before sailing in convoy to the Mediterranean in June. Returned to Britain and converted to a 22-gun storeship in November/December 1807. In April 1808 sailed in squadron sent to Lisbon; recommissoned as a troopship in November 1808 under Commander John Pasco (c.1774-1854) for the voyage to N.S.W. in 1809-1810. Recommissioned as a storeship again in 1811 and served in the Mediterranean to 1815, and then as a storeship at Woolwich. Re-named Dolphin in 1819. In March 1824 converted to a convict hulk at Woolwich and re-named Justitia in 1831; sold in October 1855.
Additional: Half the contingent of soldiers from the 73rd Regiment sent to NSW in 1809 sailed on the Hindostan, the remainder of the regiment sailed on board the Dromedary with the Macquaries and their party. The Hindostan was a much slower vessel than the Dromedary, compounded by the fact that her captain John Pasco was keen to chase any unidentified vessels in the hope of capturing them as 'prizes'. In the Bay of Biscay this led to the seizure of the Gustavus, a Swedish ship that had earlier been captured by French privateers - and a boarding party from the Hindostan was put on board and the ship was sent back to England.
Both vessels finally entered Port Jackson together on 28 December 1809, however they were forced to anchor at South Head to await a more favourable wind to carry them up the harbour. They finally moored in Sydney Cove on 30 December, and disembarked on 1 January 1810.
The Hindostan departed from Sydney for England on 12 May 1810 in company with the Dromedary, carrying the officers and soldiers of the 102nd. Regiment of Foot (NSW Corps) who had been relieved of their command by the 73rd Regiment, and HMS Porpoise, under the command of ex-Governor William Bligh.
[Sources: Farrington, A. Catalogue of East India Company Ships' Journals and Logs 1600-1834. pp. 5-6; Winfield, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: design, construction, careers and fates. London: Chatham Publishing, 2005 p.113].

HMS Howe - former East Indiaman Sha(w) Kai Kusseroo
[see: HMS Dromedary]

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